


Desert

by SilenceIsGolden15



Series: Voltron Oneshots [13]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Introspection, Keith's year in the desert
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-12
Updated: 2018-06-12
Packaged: 2019-05-21 07:26:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14910968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilenceIsGolden15/pseuds/SilenceIsGolden15
Summary: Well, there was no denying it anymore. He couldn’t keep pushing it away, the realization laid heavy in his chest- a million bowling balls crammed together, weighing him down and echoing forlornly when they impacted each other. The sharp sting of grief and the rush of rage had finally faded, only to leave him with something infinitely worse. Something he’d tried desperately to rid himself of for so long before now.Keith was lonely.





	Desert

Well, there was no denying it anymore. He couldn’t keep pushing it away, the realization laid heavy in his chest- a million bowling balls crammed together, weighing him down and echoing forlornly when they impacted each other. The sharp sting of grief and the rush of rage had finally faded, only to leave him with something infinitely worse. Something he’d tried desperately to rid himself of for so long before now.

Keith was lonely.

It had been a long time since he felt really, properly lonely. Shiro had filled the void the last few years, even when he’d left for Kerberos just knowing he was still out there somewhere and still cared dulled the ache a little. But even that small comfort had been stolen from him now. Shiro was gone, dead, nonexistent, disappeared, evaporated. And he was here, in this shack in the middle of the desert, dozens of miles from the nearest living human being. 

And he was lonely. Heart wrenchingly, devastatingly, irreparably  _ lonely _ . 

He’d forgotten how much it hurt- ached- stung- burned- in his chest, how the black hole opened and swallowed every happy memory he’d ever fooled himself into thinking he had. In his foolishness, his stupidity, he’d allowed himself to forget, convinced himself Shiro would always be there like he promised and he’d never have to feel this way again. But once again, just like it always had every time before, the feeling returned and this time there was no stopping it.

Keith laid on the floor of his shack, shirtless to compensate for the heat, twirling his knife in his fingers and staring at his wall of pictures and maps and collected strings. The tracking and searching and deciphering of the lion carvings had been keeping him sane the last few months, but even that little handhold couldn’t help now. Carvings couldn’t talk.

He was an introvert. People stressed him out. Noises (especially talking) left him feeling frazzled, irritable, ready to lash out. But nobody, not even him, could go forever without talking to someone, hearing another voice,  _ anything. _

All he got in this awful place was the hiss of the wind and the shift of the sand. 

Sure, he muttered to himself sometimes when he was thinking. He’d sang out loud a couple of times, if only to try and remember the songs he liked. He’d hear his own voice when he woke up screaming at night. 

Somewhere he could dimly remember something- something with Shiro. Driving into the desert on a Sunday afternoon. Couldn’t remember anything that happened or why they didn’t. All he could remember was what he said to Shiro.

_ “I like it out here. It’s quiet.” _

Fuck. If only he’d known back then just how quiet the desert could get. 

It was better at night. Even the unearthly screams of coyotes were preferable to dead silence. He’d sit on the couch he had pressed against the window and stare out, watching their eyes glint back at him as they yipped and howled and circled around the shack. Sometimes he’d even talk to them: not full on sentences or conversations, just mocking little phrases.

“Come get me, cowards.”

“Why don’t you eat me and get it over with.”

“You just love fucking with me, don’t you?”

But it never lasted too long. After a few minutes of muttering he’d realize what he was doing and lock it up. 

He’d always liked quiet before.

He just hadn’t understood how it could be so deafening.

**Author's Note:**

> I know this one is short, so I'm gonna do another double upload with another short piece. Enjoy.


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